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| Saturday, Novermber 3rd, 2007. Mostly Cloudy. @Hong KongAs I was getting off the ferry with Steven today, I stopped to wait for him amidst the crowd. A black guy in a Kobe Bryant jersey that heard us speaking in American English walked up to me and said "YO, MOVE!" And then walked off.
After not hearing Ebonics for three months, that was the most jarring experience I've had since I moved back to Hong Kong.
Yes, I suppose my life could be written into the contrived screenplay of Crash 2.
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| Monday, September 24th, 2007. Rain. @ Hong KongSome people might ask, "hey, Kevin. You've been in Hong Kong almost 2 months now, but we haven't heard from you at all. What's up, dawg?"
While I can tell you that the lack of Xanga entries the first month or so is pure laziness and a lack of things to talk about (I already run two other blogs, what else do I have to say?), this last 3 weeks has been a combination of stress and a general lack of time.
So how is this Hong Kong grad school thing shaping up? If it means anything, I came here wanting to do three years of production. I now plan to do one and spend the other two on screenwriting.
Basically, there are your basic complaints - not very good time management (one email basically told us to show up to watch two movies less than 24 hours ahead of time to go to a forum we're pretty much forced to go to), shoving too much into our heads with too little time, and just general unfriendliness of the Hong Kong environment towards filming. Now I have an idea why so many Hong Kong film's sounds are recorded in post-production.
As for life in Hong Kong, considering that Maxim is considered a luxury, I'm not eating very well (I spend maybe US$7 on food a day, and no more than US$12.80 a day on anything), but I like having that choice to eat better if I choose to. Plus, I love being in the big city, I love the convenience, and all the stuff that comes with it. Yes, the air is bad, it's hot and humid, the big city can be very stressful, and the rainy season can suck, but it's Hong Kong. I love showing people around and telling them different things I know about the city (it doesn't amount to much, but I do what I can). In fact, my true motivation of toughing out the next three years, next to pleasing the people who are paying the tuition here, is that if I quit school, I have to go back to America.
That's why I already wrote and logged a shot list for my next movie.
By the way, my favorite non-news that I've learned since i got here? RIe loves this city too. Not as much as I do, but I'll take what I can get.
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| Saturday, September 1st, 2007. Sunny. @ Hong KongIf anyone asks me what's the best set of birthday presents I ever got, now I have an answer for them:
Three of those objects were hand-made, and it's not the cookie cans.
Thank you, Rie. | | |
| Sunday, August 12th, 2007. Cloudy. @ Hong KongNow that I've been in Hong Kong for a week, it's time to lay out some goals for my next three years:
Watch even more movies
Take control of my own diet
Speak better Cantonese
Speak better English
Speak better in general
Make enough money to take trips to Japan.
Make less impulsive purchases (Channel V's. I'm looking at you....)
Write enough to get my name out there more (i.e. movie blog, reviews)
Make the best damn movie in the 5th class of Baptist University's CTV students.
Learn more Japanese.
Work on my knowledge of Hong Kong cinema
Not get robbed.
(related note)Work build up my martial arts
Graduate from school.
Yeah, that last one is kinda important, isn't it?
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| Friday, August 3rd, 2007. Foggy. @ San FranciscoI leave for Hong Kong in 19 hours from now. I would've liked to say that there are plenty of things I would miss here, and I suppose I would've liked to take the opportunity to make a whole list of "fuck ________" about San Francisco and America in general. But as those conservatives like to say so much, "if you don't like it, leave." So I shall do that instead.
I've spent 13 years in this here city (14-1 for studying abroad), and I've waited to move back to Hong Kong for at least 5 of those years. It's a rare thing, to be able to not only have such a straightforward dream from childhood still exist today, but also to actually have it come true. That's right, I've dreamt of making movies since the ripe age of whenever-the-hell-elementary-school-was. Now the only thing that's left is to make a name for myself, and to actually happen because I'm good, not scandalous.
I suppose I can even say that I'm leaving here with almost no regrets, with a few only pertaining to seeing a few more friends before I leave, and not doing more to save money. That's a luxury few people can afford, and we'll see whether I can pull it off the next time I check in. Still, if you're my friend, I probably love you all (platonically, that is. Except if your name is Rie, then it's all kinds of ways), and I would like to see you all again someday in the future.
Then again, I'm a liberal, so fuck your second amendment, fuck Bill O'Reilly, and fuck your car-obsessed polluting culture that looks down on public transportation.
As the outdated saying goes - Peace out, San Francisco.
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